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Chris - I can name at least 20 people off the top of my head that I know personally who ended up trashing iPods, iPhones, iTouches and other devices with internal rechargeable batteries based on their inability to hold a charge. In almost all cases (except 2), they ended up buying a new device.

Not exactly scientific. How did they treat their devices? Were they left a lot in heat? Did the users follow the rules laid out by Apple to extend battery life?

It's easy to say "I know 20 people" but not so easy to answer how kind they were to their devices. Most people don't pay attention to battery maintenance thus are the first to complain when the battery starts going bad after 6 months.

All I know is how I treat my devices and I don't have any issues with batteries.

Not exactly scientific. How did they treat their devices? Were they left a lot in heat? Did the users follow the rules laid out by Apple to extend battery life?

It's easy to say "I know 20 people" but not so easy to answer how kind they were to their devices. Most people don't pay attention to battery maintenance thus are the first to complain when the battery starts going bad after 6 months.

All I know is how I treat my devices and I don't have any issues with batteries.

I still have my 2G iPod Touch and the bettery life is just as good as it was when I bought it. Never had any problems, the back is just scratched from use but I've kept my screen in good condition, touch screen works great. My wife's would still be working fine if our son didn't throw it in the toilet

Thats why you are getting such bad battery life. Any computer pluged into AC on a constant basis = bad battery life. Use it more on batteries and see your battery life increase.

I've heard that, but I've also always kept my laptops plugged in. I'm not going to reach behind the docking station and unplug it every day, just to have to plug it back in a few hours later (do people do that?).

Not exactly scientific. How did they treat their devices? Were they left a lot in heat? Did the users follow the rules laid out by Apple to extend battery life?

It's easy to say "I know 20 people" but not so easy to answer how kind they were to their devices. Most people don't pay attention to battery maintenance thus are the first to complain when the battery starts going bad after 6 months.

All I know is how I treat my devices and I don't have any issues with batteries.

I can vouch for at least 3 of those people...and they baby their equipment, and follow the charging instructions per the user manual documentation. They are not alone...as there are many others on the web posting on this topic.

In any case, YMMV.

All I'm saying is that having an option to address the issue is a plus - somewhat surprised it is the exception and not the rule to offer it.

I've heard that, but I've also always kept my laptops plugged in. I'm not going to reach behind the docking station and unplug it every day, just to have to plug it back in a few hours later (do people do that?).

My grandmother does before slamming it shut 3/4 hours later because she's irritated at it

I've heard that, but I've also always kept my laptops plugged in. I'm not going to reach behind the docking station and unplug it every day, just to have to plug it back in a few hours later (do people do that?).

All that charging result depends on which kind of battery is in the device...

From Batteries for Dummies:

Lithium-ion: This is the type of battery you want to have in your laptop. This type is lightweight and performs better than the other types of batteries. Unlike NiCad or NiMH batteries, lithium-ion batteries don’t have the dreaded “memory effect.” The memory effect is the property of nickel-cadmium batteries that causes them to lose their capacity for full recharging if they are discharged repeatedly the same amount and then recharged without overcharge before they have fully drained. There’s usually a rapid-charging option with lithium-ion batteries, which is good when you’re in a time crunch. Finally, this type of battery is more environmentally friendly than the other types.

Two older types of batteries, once popular in portable computers, are nickel-cadmium (NiCad) and nickel-metal hydride (NiMH). The NiCad isn’t often considered for laptops these days because it suffered unpleasantly from The Dreaded Memory Effect. A NiMH battery is longer lasting than a NiCad, but it too woefully suffers from The Dreaded Memory Effect.

I know a VP of a very large company. He uses his iPad2 every day...to answer emails. True story. And he makes a point of carrying it everywhere he goes. Must get very important emails.....

I bring mine everywhere... well, everywhere at home... well, everywhere but the bathroom... that just isn't sanitary, IMO!

I do however find that ever since some fellow posters (from the iPad thread here on DBSTalk) helped me set up my E-mail the way I wanted it, I have been using the iPad to do the bulk of my E-mail, and have been in the middle of several conversations these past few days.

Believe me, I'm willing to have my mind changed. I still haven't seen anything that interests me that I can't do on my smart-phone.

I'm not sure you're looking at things the right way?!

Pretty much everything you can do with your smart-phone, you can do with a tablet, netbook, laptop, or desktop. The difference is HOW you use it, and the convenience of how you're able to use it. My iPad does not replace my smart-phone, nor would a smart-phone replace my iPad.

The only thing my iPad SORTA replaces... is my computer. Aside from the fact that I'm currently in the process of trying to organize my files (no small task when you have as much music as I do, and I'm trying to add comprehensive information to the files, etc.), I simply haven't used my computer. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before I'll need to bring home work, but as far as personal stuff goes, the iPad has replaced my computer for my daily computing activities.

My son doesn't want a tablet. My son, who practically slept all night in front of a BB to get a WII sees no use for a tablet. My son, who has spent a fortune (of our money) on game platforms, laptops, desktops, iPods, etc. turned down the Xoom when I offered it to him before I returned it.

EVERYONE who has seen my iPad and played with it wants one. Of those people, everyone who wanted one BEFORE they played with my iPad wants one even more now... and that's just the people who have seen it. Honestly, I can't think of a single person I know who doesn't WANT one...

Apparently your son and I don't run in the same circles!

I'm willing to listen and try to understand what advantages the tablets have and my heart is still filled with lust for one. I'm sure I'll end up with one, but I'd sure like to understand what I'm gonna do with it.

If you can't figure out what you'd do with it, I'm not sure a tablet is for you.

When the iPad first came out, I thought it was cool, but over time, I came up with a ton of ways in I would use it. After getting it, I've come up with even more ways, and I'm still learning new stuff every day.

The people I mentioned above, they're the same way. They don't have to be convinced, they are very much aware of WHY they want one... no convincing necessary.

Tablets aren't cheap, and money doesn't grow on trees. A few years down the line, you may come up with reasons to want one, and the tablets will probably be better (and perhaps cheaper) by then.

Perhaps, but one can run Windows 7 on a legacy PC as well - but it also runs very poorly and has limitations to do many things.

It is true that officially there is no documented minumum hardware requirement to deploy the new v3.0 operating system, however, operating system history has repeatedly demonstrated that Android 3 will quickly evolve to operate much better and use the expanded capabilities of next generation hardware. Apps will follow that train.

Android 3 is specifically optimized to operate (and take advantage of the features) on the 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor with a minimum of 16 GB of internal memory, featured in virtually all the next-generation Android 3-based tablets.

K-mart tires work on a Mercedes, but you won't find many people operating their cars with them for good reason. Android 3 will be no different in that scenario.

Interesting how you guys are really big on the battery replacement thing. It has never been an issue for me both on tablets and phones. I think over the past 13 years since I started carrying around a cell phone, I think I only replaced a battery on one of those phones.

Even though the battery may be the weakest link, it will still takes a few years for the battery to start screwing up and usually by that time it will be time upgrade to a new tablet.

I wasn't planning on upgrading to a new tablet every year. I tend to keep things if they work. But, you have a point for those who do plan to upgrade each year.

Can not swap battery when first one runs down = Strike one.No keyboard = Strike twoSmall screen = strike 2.5

One model left in contention!

Moving on to battery's being replaceable.Laptops have it right, need longer battery life just swap in your spare. There have been Dell models, for example, where you could pull the optical drive and plug in a second battery so you didn't even have to swap.

We serviced a lot of Ipods for bad battery life, everything else was good, just a bad battery. Easy swap would have been nice.

About my son, you hit the nail on the head with your second reason. He has no use for keyboards that take up half the screen. When I got the Droid X, he got the Droid Mobil or Two, the next one down in price because it had a slide out keyboard. At the time he told me that the keyboard on the Droid X was gonna annoy me and it does.

My Dell laptop is just about 1 year old and I need to get a new battery, because the current one won't hold a charge for more than an hour.

My wife and I both gave up on using just the batteries on our Lenovo laptops. We both plug them into house power when using them. I've got a 17" and she's got the more expensive model, can't remember which is which, the Thinkpad or the Ideapad, but hers has a small screen and the battery won't hold a charge long enough for her to use when she is working at home. Not a problem for us when we're home, but she travels a lot and she carries a long extension cord with her. Her company supplies her with the laptop and she's gotten a couple of new batteries, but they just don't hold up.

I don't know if things have changed much regarding chargers, but there were only two types when I was working. The trickle charger, which you can leave the battery plugged into and the cascade charger which just "cascades" juice into the battery and gets it back up and running very quickly. They have to be unplugged or the batteries get destroyed. I have no idea what charging technology is used today, but if it's a trickle charger, it doesn't matter much if you leave it on a lot.

I just recently got the Samsung Galaxy Table through Verizon...and I love it - using Verizon Vcast - I have been able to download music and video's...with no problem...one question I can't seem to find out - can you put the various video's in specific folders. Any help would be appreciated and how to do that. Thanks

I've heard that, but I've also always kept my laptops plugged in. I'm not going to reach behind the docking station and unplug it every day, just to have to plug it back in a few hours later (do people do that?).

Again, if it uses trickle charger technology, which means it gets a small amount of juice over a long period of time, it shouldn't matter. Unless you know for sure that you have a battery that will discharge completely time after time and take a full charge time after time, I'd keep on doing what you're doing. Those full discharge batteries cost a small fortune, by the way. They are used in golf carts and forklifts. The first time I ordered a set of six for my scooter I could not believe the cost. Neither could my boss.

At the end, Vista was very solid and performing as well as XP was on the same hardware. They tightened up a lot of things with 7.

I can find you 100 IT and networking folks that would strongly dispute that statement, but that adds little to this thread topic..

Again, if it uses trickle charger technology, which means it gets a small amount of juice over a long period of time, it shouldn't matter. Unless you know for sure that you have a battery that will discharge completely time after time and take a full charge time after time, I'd keep on doing what you're doing.

Agreed.

The new line of laptop and other mobile devices often feature new battery technology that no longer is impacted by "memory" issues....they can charge all day long.

I bring mine everywhere... well, everywhere at home... well, everywhere but the bathroom... that just isn't sanitary, IMO!

I do however find that ever since some fellow posters (from the iPad thread here on DBSTalk) helped me set up my E-mail the way I wanted it, I have been using the iPad to do the bulk of my E-mail, and have been in the middle of several conversations these past few days.

I'm not sure you're looking at things the right way?!

Pretty much everything you can do with your smart-phone, you can do with a tablet, netbook, laptop, or desktop. The difference is HOW you use it, and the convenience of how you're able to use it. My iPad does not replace my smart-phone, nor would a smart-phone replace my iPad.

The only thing my iPad SORTA replaces... is my computer. Aside from the fact that I'm currently in the process of trying to organize my files (no small task when you have as much music as I do, and I'm trying to add comprehensive information to the files, etc.), I simply haven't used my computer. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before I'll need to bring home work, but as far as personal stuff goes, the iPad has replaced my computer for my daily computing activities.

EVERYONE who has seen my iPad and played with it wants one. Of those people, everyone who wanted one BEFORE they played with my iPad wants one even more now... and that's just the people who have seen it. Honestly, I can't think of a single person I know who doesn't WANT one...

Apparently your son and I don't run in the same circles!

If you can't figure out what you'd do with it, I'm not sure a tablet is for you.

When the iPad first came out, I thought it was cool, but over time, I came up with a ton of ways in I would use it. After getting it, I've come up with even more ways, and I'm still learning new stuff every day.

The people I mentioned above, they're the same way. They don't have to be convinced, they are very much aware of WHY they want one... no convincing necessary.

Tablets aren't cheap, and money doesn't grow on trees. A few years down the line, you may come up with reasons to want one, and the tablets will probably be better (and perhaps cheaper) by then.

~Alan

Thanx for taking the time to write all that, Alan. You've got my feelings down pretty well. I can't imagine a tablet replacing my computers, but I can see it performing the tasks I do with my Droid in a much better way. That small screen is a PITA. And that's the biggest screen I could find in a smart phone. Perhaps if I had a job such as the one I had I would find more uses for it. (Nah, if I hadn't quit when I did, the stress would have killed me. No joke.)

But thinking about that job, I could have taken a tablet to the meetings I was forced to attend daily and it would have been a big help.

There's a huge difference in not "having" to work (as opposed to being out of work and looking for a job) and working. I get that and can see the advantages of a tablet for that scenario. But, fortunately, I don't have to work and I'm always around my computers, so that need isn't there.

That doesn't stop me from wanting one. My heart is still filled with lust and when that happens, I usually get what I want. I just want to see how this all shakes out.

I started this thread in the hopes that it would remain active for a long period of time, enough for me to form a strong opinion on which tablet to purchase. In no way do I mean to disparage the tablets.

Thanx for taking the time to write all that, Alan. You've got my feelings down pretty well. I can't imagine a tablet replacing my computers, but I can see it performing the tasks I do with my Droid in a much better way.

In contrast...I can't see spending the money for a tablet unless it provides new capabilities, which would include reducing the need to use a laptop during business and personal travel.

It would have to be able to do at least a respectable job of being able to interact with MS Office content. It appears than at least the Android line is going to accomplish this effectively on several fronts.

I suspect its no accident they are adding more and more horsepower, as well as connectivity to these to do much more than things people woudl do on a smartphone. It doesn't have to emulate everything I do on a laptop, but it needs to do much more than the iPad2 can do towards that kind of functionality and connects to printers and other devices. Right now, the iPad is an oversize iPhone in most regards.

In my case....without a real use purpose...it moves to the "optional toy" category.